Social Media is Changing: Here’s what you need to know

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Why is social media so complex to understand? Probably because best practices seem to change in real time. As social and digital continue to be important pieces of marketing plans, you as a marketing and communications pro will need to be fluid in your understanding. If you are, you will stand out with your strategies and execution. While this column will be old soon, here are some things you should know: 1. Social media is all about transparency, and it is becoming even more evident that hiding is no longer an option. Look at celebrities. Take Robin William’s death — immediately, the media points to his Twitter page, as well as those of fellow celebrities and family members. What is interesting is that Twitter and other social outlets are considered a credible source for information — and the access to information is not limited to just the media. With this trend, brands will have to become much more transparent as time continues. It won’t be so much about telling people to eat your pizza; it will be you explaining how you came up with the idea for the pizza. It will be much more emotional. 2. Transparency and automation will meet. Meaning, you order a pizza, technology will automatically tell your friends what pizza you ordered and where you ordered it. Technology will create content for social users, which will ultimately give brands some control in the social arena. 3. Social networking will evolve to have much more life in places where people desire information — specifically, their phones. Mobile will be the next wave of communication. Twitter already has a step ahead in this arena, given its similarity to texting. 4. With mobile being at the forefront, grammar will be less of an issue. We will lose our requirements to have perfect spelling and language. Brands will use “LOL” or “z” at the end of words — more slang, less detail. 5. People will respect brands that have real people behind them. While automation for local-store marketing will continue to advance, people behind brands will remain. Even as technology and sales continue to deepen, people will still buy from people (even if they are behind a computer screen). 6. The customer will continue to rule the brand. Brands can say what they want, but the emotions of the consumer will win the day. You can’t stop them from posting status messages about bad service. You can’t stop them from posting photos on Instagram. Brands that embrace these advancements will have the best social footprints around. 7. The day of the fan is over. It’s not about quantity, it’s now all about quality. The more our landscape evolves, the more quality will win the day, especially as social networks continue to evolve into paid media. 8. Content will still be king, but it will be king in in a way we can control. People will still rely on reviews to impact buying decisions — as they will believe articles. Brands will be responsible for lifting up as much positive content as possible and apologizing for as much negative content as possible. 9. Local social will remain, but it will continue to evolve to be controlled by the brand. The reality is a majority of people still don’t get social. Local franchise owners still post “buy, buy, buy” — that’s advertising. It’s more about relationships, which when combined with technology and a stadium full of potential buyers, it’s hard to not sell, sell, sell. Local content will be handed down from the brand and monitored globally to protect the brand standards. 10. Social media will continue to be friendly toward the individual and challenging for the brand. Brands will have to pay to have access, whereas the individual will have ultimate access. Some social network will try to find a way to charge individuals and will be done instantly, as information will crush that business. More and more social networks will find their way onto Wall Street, too. The most important word to examine in “social media” is “social.” Social is a form of communication. When you talk at people, your brand is not social — it is just media. Social media is not about simply being an extension of your website. It is all about giving you, the brand, a crystal ball into data and expectations of the customers you desire.